I hear TV is in a “golden age” but I’ve hardly watched any in about eight years, basically since my son was born. He took so much time in the early years I just got out of the habit of watching.
My problem is that we got a SmartTV with a zillion possibilities. My husband moved out and I just don’t know how to operate the thing. If I cared, I might learn my way in the forest of settings, modes and around the four different remote controls neccesary, but frankly, I don’t care enough.
Also, there’s always something else that needs doing, and most of those things need doing at the computer. So if I sit at the computer, I feel I’m halfway to doing the chores I need doing there, so that is where I do my procratinating.
As soon as I saw the title of your post I thought “Wow, are you me?”
I just don’t have any desire to watch movies or TV, with the exception of occasionally watching something familiar from the past (yesterday my daughter mentioned a random hankering to watch Pulp Fiction, and I said “I’m always ready to watch Pulp Fiction!”)
It just seems like too much effort to invest time in a movie or show that requires so much back story. No, I don’t want to start from the beginning and invest many hours in order to enjoy a show.
When people ask why I don’t watch movies, I tell them it’s because I was a projectionist and showed hundreds of films in my day–that’s only partially the reason though. The real reason is that I’m getting older and just don’t feel like watching movies or shows anymore.
I’ve tried watching current TV and it leaves me cold and uninterested.
The Blacklist is a recent example. I forced myself to get through the first season and part of the second. I started a thread here trying to be positive and support the show. The scripts were just so weak and there were huge errors in logic or common sense. They made the FBI imbeciles trying to even make the ridiculous plots work.
I’ve had several new shows ruined that way. It’s like the writers were never taught to outline a story. Make it believable and connect the dots. It’s very basic story writing technique they ignore.
The other trend I absolutely hate is killing off regular characters. I watch tv to escape from the grim reality of the daily news. I want to see my favorite action characters survive and fight another day. Killing a character for the shock value is not what I want to see.
Have you ever thought about what today’s writers would do with classic shows?
Adam on Bonanza would be scalped and tortured by [del]Indians[del/] Native Americans.
Chester on Gunsmoke would be hung by a lynch mob.
Hey! They’ll be talking about these moments for weeks on the Web. :rolleyes:
I’ve heard about the carnage on Game of Thrones. No way will I be watching. I see enough real murders every few days in the news. Not my cup of tea. I outgrew and matured past Slasher movies thirty years ago. I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre at least six times. I was a teenage and thought it was cool. Sigh…
There is a big difference in Slasher movies and todays TV. I wasn’t emotionally invested in those movie characters. The teens are briefly introduced, have sex, show some skin, and get killed. Some of those characters barely had any lines. There’s a disconnect between the violence and consequences.
I don’t watch those movies anymore. It’s a different world and real life violence is too present in the daily news.
It’s different on tv when you’ve seen that character for several seasons. You’ve seen them succeed and fail. You start hoping the character will stop drinking, or give up a life of crime. Maybe that new relationship will work out. Seeing them die is more personal and upsetting.
Most of the shows recommended to me in recent years have been touted as exciting or clever but strike me as predictable or dull. I’d rather read a book, or go for a walk, or have a conversation. We just got rid of cable and have only used Hulu and Amazon Fire twice in the last month.
I’ve lost all interest in novels, but give me an anthology… .
I’ve lost interest in watching a lot of movies and TV in situations where I don’t think of the actor as a performer anymore; but a political mouthpiece. Right wing or left wing; I don’t care. I don’t watch you to hear your opinion on anything. I watch you because you’re a talented musician, actor, etc.
That’s an interesting point.
I find myself reaching for old novels. I much rather read a John D. MacDonald, Travis McGee novel then the stuff novelists publish today.
It’s wonderful that we can load ten Travis McGee novels on a Kindle. Then read them sequentially and watch the character face hardships, enter into relationships, and slowly grow & change.
Thank you! I’ve been saying that there’s nothing to watch on TV for years. And every time I did I always got pounded with Breaking Bad or The Wire fans telling me how television is in a new golden age, and I didn’t know what I was talking about. Today’s movies AND television AND music ALL BLOW CHUNKS and I’m sick of it!!! Learn to fucking write assholes!!!
Oh, and Breaking Bad sucked too. Don’t know about The Wire. Don’t care to try either. I’m sick of downers, death, and destruction on the tube, and pretentious fatheads in the movies.
Anyway, Lumpy, are you feeling other depression symptoms? Feelings of sadness, or hollowness, or guilt? That’s what you need to look into, if you do.
I guess I could take a few minutes and elaborate.
I’m a very slow reader; probably takes me at least twice as long to read a novel as the next guy, so I don’t wish to invest the time in novels any more; too much other stuff to do. Couple that with my really bad eyesight and I’d rather not have my nose buried in newsprint for 12 hours for fear of a sinus infection. So, this was no reflection on the quality of contemporary novelists (not that anyone suggested so); I’d have to pass over Moby Dick.
Like Stephen King opined: a novel is like a long satisfying affair, a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark. I’m too tired for an affair! 
:rolleyes:
Think of it as a sort of Straight Dope Bingo.
I sometimes think a lack of scarcity is a problem. If everything is available at your finger tips all the time does it seem as valuable?
Back when video stores were the biggest source of movies I walked in one, marveled at all the new releases with actors I loved on the covers but nearly walked out without renting anything. I could have picked up a dozen movies I would have liked but it’s hard to say any of them stood out or I was really in the mood for.
Binge watching also seems a little weird to me.
The way it was is if you started watching a show you just took it as it came.
Your commitment was one episode per week.You didn’t feel like you might have three whole seasons to watch before you get caught up.
And shows increasingly cater to binge watchers, Each episode is more like a chapter then its own complete story. You’re more expected to remember something that happened eight episodes before because you just saw it, instead of having seen it two months ago.
Of course those are all things that most people love.
I don’t know. We have Netflix and Amazon Prime and regular cable (HBO/Starz/Showtime). I’m not overwhelmed by the selection of stuff to watch. Plus I’m more of a “flipper”. I don’t want to have to configure three different devices and then search through half a dozen apps for some specific show deep in the database.
I really only have time to follow a couple shows (Game of Thrones, Westworld, Walking Dead, maybe one or two others). Occasionally I’ll watch Black Mirror or PkD’s Electric Dreams, but I can only handle the “it was VR the entire time!” plot twist only so many times.
I’m also with Too Many Cats. After Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Walking Dead, GoT, (never got into The Wire, Mad Men or Breaking Bad) I really don’t feel like binge watching yet another series about the worst assholes in the world.
I add my voice to those who say that if you have no motivation to watch TV and movies, that’s a good thing. Read books. Go hiking. Plant a garden. Do real stuff that’s fun.
The only things my wife and I watch on TV are sports. But we read incessantly. We are not depressed, just not much into popular culture.
This, times ten. The star(let)s need to rewatch the scene in Toy Story where Woody shouts: “You. Are. A. TOY!” The idea that their deep experience waiting tables and playing make-believe qualifies them to lecture me on morals and politics is laughable.
As to the OP, I think it’s probably an improvement in one’s life to back away from the glowing rectangles. Since our culture has turned to all politics - all the time, I’ve been gradually withdrawing from it. Haven’t been to a movie in over a decade, stopped watching most TV a few years ago, and finally cut the cable last month. I’m forced to sit through diversity and ethics training at work, I’m sure as hell not gonna put up with it on my off time. I joke with my wife that Robert Putnam ain’t seen nothing yet.
I haven’t watched TV since the late 1980s.
I like to watch movies, but only old ones. We live in the boondocks, and our DSL connection is too slow to stream anything. So I buy them on DVD. Furthermore, since I have to get up early during the week, I only watch them on Friday or Saturday evenings.